by T. Lucas

Created on: October 26, 2009

Is the movie of a novel ever better than the novel itself? As is always the disappointment when a terrific book is recreated and squeezed into a movie, details, feelings, and favorite parts are left on the cutting floor. Any reader will bemoan this tragedy. We would rather watch a seven hour long drama of our novels than to see details left behind.

I will say that the Twilight movie has a few advantages over the Twilight book. First, it is exciting to see faces put to names that had only yet been in your imagination. Seeing Jasper's tightened mouth as he walked past human teenagers in the lunchroom, watching the special effects of vampire baseball, touring the Cullen's airy mansion- these are all things we desire to see come off of the page. The villains are more than readers could have hoped for in the movie rendition. James is obsessive and frightening; Victoria sultry and earthy; and Laurent is sophisticated to the point that you can't quite picture him as evil. Lastly, the soundtrack is incredible.

The downside to the movie was this: Edward and Bella's relationship is written in personal thoughts and feelings, and it is nearly impossible to feel the turmoil going on in each of them when you watch the movie. To see it acted out, without reading pages and pages of Bella's confusion and longing for Edward- you miss the falling in love. In the movie, Edward is mysterious, he acts like he hates Bella, then saves her life, then shows her he is a vampire, and then all of a sudden they are in love and will never leave each other. In the movie, there is no opportunity or reason for the viewer to fall in love with Edward Cullen. The book takes it's time drawing you in, hoping that everything will work out, that Edward will change Bella into a vampire. However, in the movie, I can't quite understand why Bella does fall in love with Edward. One day they hate each other; the next they don't have time for anyone else. The relationship in the Twilight novel is much more intense and dramatic. Quite more like a heady teenage love. Because Edward and Bella are both quiet, kept to themselves characters, you almost need the written page to decently explain and describe their relationship. The brooding, the gazing looks, and the claims of undying love seem ill timed in the movie version, and for that, I believe the novel is superior. Their love in the movie just does not quite measure up to the heat in the novel.

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